Design of Experiments (2016)

B.Sc. Industrial Engineering

Group Activity Designing,

Making, and Flying a Paper
Helicopter
The paper helicopter activity provides a way to quickly explain basic DoE concepts. Students
are asked to form groups, with maximal 4 students in a group. Each group will design and
produce the following paper helicopters. 4 students will have 3 roles in this project: one
designer, two makers, and one quality manager. The designer is to organize and coordinate
the group and generate the designs. The two makers will make the paper helicopters. The
quality managers role is to check the helicopters the two makers made to ensure that they are
following the design.

The Goal: Making a Better Paper Helicopter

To perform a DoE with a paper helicopter we need to identify the desired output, which
would be our response variable. We cant just declare that we want a high quality helicopter;
quality must be clearly defined.
A good helicopter is one which stays in the air for a longer time, so the response variable
would be flight time as measured from the time the helicopter is dropped from a height of 2
meters until the time it hits the floor. Without defining the test conditions it could be possible
that sample helicopters would be dropped from different heights, in which case our DoE
results would not be valid. Remember to fly each helicopter thrice but in random order.
Test factors that influence flight time must also be identified. For the helicopter experiment,
the factors are rotor length, leg length, leg width, and paper clip. The helicopter experiment
levels are varied by using longer or shorter leg and rotor lengths and adding or removing a
paper clip.

Assembly Instructions
Heres how to make the paper helicopters.
Step 1: Cut the paper to a width of 10 cm.
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Design of Experiments (2016)

B.Sc. Industrial Engineering

Step 2: Cut the paper equal to rotor length plus leg length, and add 2 cm for the body.
Step 3: Cut dotted lines at Leg A and Leg C. The length of each cut is 10 cm minus leg width
divided by 2.
Step 4: Fold leg A onto leg B.
Step 5: Fold leg C onto leg B.
Step 6: Fold rotor A and rotor B in opposite directions. They should form 90 to the body and
be 180 away from each other.
Step 7: For the paper clip version: Add a paper clip to the bottom of the leg.

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Design of Experiments (2016)

B.Sc. Industrial Engineering

Figure 1: The helicopter plan

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Design of Experiments (2016)

B.Sc. Industrial Engineering

Figure 2:
helicopter

The finished

Table 1:

Helicopter factors

Factor
Rotor length (R)
Leg length (L)
Leg width (W)
Paper clip on leg (C)

Low setting (-)

7.5 cm
7.5 cm
3.5 cm
No

High setting (+)

8.5 cm
12.0 cm
5.0 cm
Yes

Answer the following questions and fill the table once you get the data. Submit the solution
both in hard and soft form hard form should be submitted in-person (do not drop in office).

Questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.

What is the objective of this experiment?

What is the response (outcome) variable in this experiment?
What are the input variables (factors)?
List the noise factors that you should control so that they do not impact the response?

Are there any major sources of variation that would be difcult to control?
5. How could the concept of blocking be used in this activity?

Table 2: Treatment combinations and response measurement

Factors
R

Flight Time (sec)

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R2

R3

Average

Design of Experiments (2016)

B.Sc. Industrial Engineering

References:

https://www.minitab.com/en-us/Published-Articles/Teaching-DoE-with-Paper-

Helicopters-and-Minitab/
http://williamghunter.net/george-box-articles/teaching-engineers-experimental-design-

with-a-paper-helicopter
http://www.paperhelicopterexperiment.com/

Submitted by (Mention role, name, roll number and put signatures):

1.
2.
3.
4.

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